Dr. Miguel Ángel Martínez-González has spent more than two decades coming up with scientific evidence to support the benefits of the Mediterranean diet. A professor of preventive medicine at Navarre University (Spain), and a visiting scholar at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, he is one of the masterminds behind the PREDIMED (Primary Prevention of Cardiovasculary Disease with a Mediterranean Diet) trials, the most in-depth cohort study to date on the effects of the southern European diet on health.

The study showed that following a Mediterranean diet reduces cardiovascular problems by 66%, heart attacks and strokes by 30% and the risk of getting breast cancer by 68%.

El País interviewed him to find out why is it important to keep a Mediterranean diet and fight the influence of American Diet in order to keep a population healthier and end up with obesity and cardiovascular diseases.

"Many people say that they follow the Mediterranean diet. But the truth is that the younger generations have mixed it with the American diet. Spaniards now eat too much processed and red meat. I’m not saying we have to become vegetarians, but there is scientific evidence to suggest that there is a drastic reduction in death from heart disease and cancer if we replace animal proteins with vegetable proteins. The Mediterranean diet, meaning extra virgin olive oil, nuts, fruit, vegetables and pulses, is the best option. If you have to eat animal protein, it is better to eat fish than meat, and it is better to eat rabbit or poultry than red meat. It is also a good idea to reduce sugar and salt in the diet and lead a less sedentary lifestyle – climb the stairs instead of taking the elevator, for example."